Walling Skies
by Brickc16
Summary: Chris Wall finds himself in the middle of an Alien invasion. He then finds out that his brother has been taken by said aliens, not knowing what they might do to him he and his friends travel to Boston, where they meet a group who call themselves the Second Mass, where he meets a kindred spirit, Tom Mason, whose son Ben was taken by the aliens as well.
1. The invasion

When the ships first attacked, it was like something out of a science fiction movie; lasers coming from the skies, insect things running around kidnapping kids while an army of giant robots shoot and kill any who run from them. This all started in the cities, the kind of story you'd hear from some big college history professor's point of view. Our story however, starts in the small town of Raymond New Hampshire.

My name is Chris Wall, and I'm just your average duck footed 18 year old New Englander. I was born in Haverhill, Mass, but I moved to Raymond when I was about 13, so I've lived in Raymond for my whole teenage years. I'm about 5 feet and eleven inches tall and I have dirty blonde hair. I never thought something like this could actually happen, as much as I had hoped for a more exciting life.

When the first attack started, I was at work at Circle K/Irving, the local gas station. My friends Joe and Walker came to visit and we were standing around talking about the latest things in our lives. Joe was talking about a glitch he found in a video game and Chuck (that's what we call Walker, long story) told us about a drawing he was currently planning out; that's when the news interrupted the song we were listening to on the radio.

"We interrupt your song, folks, for a very important news bulletin," said Scorch, one of the many disc jockeys from Rock 101. "It seems as if Boston is being attacked by some unknown force. Lasers are falling from the sky; buildings are crumpling and people dying. This is bigger than even 9/11." There was an explosion over the microphone, and when Scorch spoke, his usual deep and calm voice was shaky. "It seems as if Boston isn't the only target, I don't know what is happening but… there's someone at the door." The sound of a door being bashed down and a series of clicking sounds caused Scorch to scream, the radio went dead and a monotone tone went over the radio.

"What the hell was that?" Joe asked, his pudgy face growing into a confused expression. I shrugged and walked over to the radio and started hitting the side.

"Maybe it's like that War of the Worlds scare?" Chuck asked hopefully.

"I don't think so," a customer said, pulling out his ear buds and unplugging them from his iPhone, he held the phone up so we could see the screen. It was a news casting from Boston, buildings really were crumpling, the screams and car horns were blocked out by the sounds of gun fire and the loud booms of buildings collapsing.

"Holy shit," Joe said, he looked at me and I looked at Chuck, who was staring at the phone.

"What are we going to do," I asked them, we all looked at each other as the customer ran out of the store. There was a loud bang from outside and we all looked in time to see a flaming car land just in front of the gas pumps. Someone who was pumping gas dropped the nozzle, and gas poured out of it, making a big puddle. We realized that the gas was inching toward the car and we hauled ass out of there. We ran through the back and through the back exit and ran toward the massive hill behind the store. We started up the hill just as the gas touched the flames; the gas station was engulfed by a huge explosion, whose force shoved up into the landscape and sprawling back down the hill again.

I got up gingerly, I twisted my ankle so standing was a pain and I walked over and lifted Chuck up and together we hoisted Joe up and we started to limp away. Just as we got to the road we saw these bug like aliens go running by us, they had six legs and tan skin. They made clicking noises, much like the sound we heard on the radio before it went dead. One saw us and started to charge us, we started to turn but just then a provider bus slammed into the thing, sending it flying forward. The door opened to reveal Joe's cousin, Richy.

"Get in!" He called and we hobbled to his bus just in time for the aliens to pick up their fallen comrade. Richy put the pedal to the metal and we were off, we decided to go to our friend Ashley's house, it was a more secluded area of the town where the aliens were less likely to attack. When we got there we saw that her family had barricaded the doors and windows. We knocked and hollered for Ashley to open up but either they weren't there, or they weren't buying that we were really human.

We finally gave up and started to head back to the bus, before we got off the porch, though, the bus exploded, sending us onto our rear ends. We looked up and saw a giant robot with a gun built into their right arm step in from the street. The bug like aliens scampered forward and started to make mad grabs at us. We weaved out of the way in time for them to run into the doors, we sprinted toward the pool behind Ashley's garage and ran up the stairs of onto the small deck.

The aliens climbed over the railings and made a grabbing leap at us, we jumped aside and they landed in the water and instantly they started to scream. They waved their arms in an attempt to stay afloat, but to no avail, the aliens drowned in the pool that was barely 5 feet tall. The robot made its way around the garage just as we ran around the other side. We looked in the garage for something, anything that could stop this thing. Then I saw it, the garden hose that was hanging from the wall.

"I have an idea," I said, running to the hose and disconnecting it from the wall. I gave one end to Richy and we both ran outside. The robot turned and faced us and me and Richy both ran forward, Richy running to the right side of the robot, me running to the left. We ran until we felt the tug of the hose on the robot's legs, then I swerved right, Richy left, and we wrapped up the alien's legs tightly, then together, we yanked the hose and the machine's legs jerked together and the thing fell forward with a loud crash.

"Wow," Richy said, smiling. "Great idea, Chris!"

"Thanks," I said, walking over to the robot. "I got it from Star Wars." I approached the machine and tapped it with my foot and the robot started to move again. I screamed and jumped back; I looked around and found a sledge hammer. I grabbed it and walked back to the robot and slammed the top with the hammer. I didn't even dent it.

"Here, let me try," Richy said. He was far larger than any of us, taller and wider. He took the hammer and brought it up over his head, and with a large cry he brought the hammer down on the robot, leaving a very big dent. The force of the slam caused the robot to jolt and short out, it stopped moving shortly after the hit.

"Nice hit," Joe said, walking over to the robot.

"Thanks," Richy said, slinging the hammer over his shoulder.

"What is it?" Chuck asked, standing a little farther back than the rest of us.

"Well, obviously it's some kind of robot." I said, crouching down and running my hand across the cool smooth metal. "I don't feel or see any seams, or a door or anything. So it isn't a mechanical suit or anything. It must be some kind of drone, you know?"

Just then the door to Ashley's house opened and we all looked up to see her father, Mark, in the doorway. He was a shorter man with graying hair; he smiled at us and said, "Damn, great job boys. Come on in, we're just starting dinner."

"We saw the whole thing," Ashley's mom, Justine, said as we were all sitting down for a surprisingly delicious looking meal. "At least we know those things can't swim."

"Yeah," I said, pushing my food around with my fork. "I don't think it'll be that easy to kill any more of them though. They aren't stupid, they're moving in units, like an army. This isn't just some attack. This is a full scaled invasion, we're at war."

"A useless war to fight in," Mark said. "They're far more advanced than us; I saw clips on the news of our military trying to shoot through those machines. They didn't even scratch the metal."

"But we do know that these things can die," Joe said.

"Yeah," Chuck said. "Look at those aliens, the, uh… the Scamperers. Richy hit one with a bus and a bunch of others drowned."

I smiled, "Scamperers, I like that. But why don't we drop an "er"?"

"Scampers," everyone said at once, they all nodded.

"Listen," Richy said, "there's no reason we need to give up. We can fight back, get some guns, some survivors, we can find a place to go to be safe."

"We could go west," Ashley said. "It gets a lot less urban there and we can find a gated community or something to hole up in."

"Yeah," I said. "We could get our families and get a bus or something and just go!" My cell phone began to ring, which surprised me; they hadn't knocked out communications yet. It was my mom. "Excuse me," I said, getting up from the table.

I flipped open my phone and said, "Mom, hey, are you guys alright?"

"Chris," my mom said between sobs. "One of those… _things_ took… they took your brother." My face fell harder than the machine. "I don't know what they're doing, but… oh god they took so many kids."

"Ma, don't worry," I said, keeping my voice steady. "I… I'll find him."

"No, don't you dare I can't lose…" She started but I didn't let her finish.

"I love you, mom," I said and hung up on her. Of course I felt bad, she was distressed, but if I was going to get my brother back I couldn't have her yelling at me not to get involved. He's my brother for God's sake.

"Well, the white picket fence and apple pie life is going to have to wait for me," I said, walking back into the dining room. "That was my mom, these things took my brother."

"So, what?" Joe said. "You're just going to walk up to a Scamper and ask them for your brother back?"

"Well," I said, sitting, "actually I planned on following the Scampers to their destination and try to find a way to take out whatever headquarters they've got."

"Chris," Mark said, smirking at my stupidity, "this isn't Call of Duty, this isn't a game, this isn't even some TV show. This is real, if you go after your brother, you _will_ die."

"At least I'll die trying," I said. I looked around at the people around me and sighed. "Listen, you guys can all go west, pick up my family and go. I'm going after my brother. They're attacking bigger cities so I'm going to try Manchester. If they aren't there I'll try Concord."

"Chris," Richy said, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed. "I've see how you hit with a sledge hammer, you aren't going to survive out there alone. I'll go with you."

"If Richy is going I'm going," Joe said.

"Same here," Chuck said.

"Me too," Ashley said, smiling.

"Oh hell no you aren't," Justine said, glaring at her in a way only a mother could. "If they want to go on a suicide mission they can go for it, but you are coming with us, we're going west like you suggested."

"Mom," Ashley groaned.

"No," Justine said, closing the conversation. She looked at us guys and said, "You're welcome to stay the night and leave in the morning. I just hope you'll reconsider."

"Yeah, I'm a guy," I said, "once my mind is set, there's no changing it."


	2. Pope

We awoke the next morning before noon, which was a big shift for all of us, seeing as how it was summer vacation before this whole thing happened. There was no need to pack; we had no clothes at Ashley's house besides the ones on our backs. We figured we wouldn't need many changes of clothes; it's not like personal hygiene was the most important thing in the world right then. We said good bye to Ashley's parents, her brother Ryan, and her sister Sam, and then we walked out and realized we were vehicleless.

"Take my car," Mark said, throwing us the keys. "It's got a full tank of gas and it's got good mileage so you shouldn't have to fill up for quite a while."

"Thanks," I said, fiddling with the keys, giving my hands something to do. We got into the car and I started the ignition. I was about to flip the car into reverse when I realized something. "Dammit… it's a standard." I stuck my head out the window to look back at Mark and Justine. "I can't drive stick!"

"Oh," Mark said, chuckling a little. "Why don't you take the other car then?"

The turned off the engine to the car, threw the keys back to Mark just as he threw the keys of the other car to me. I caught them, turned and got into the other car. I started the engine, flipped it into reverse, and started to drive backwards. We pulled out of the driveway and I put the car into drive, and away we went.

We were driving for a long while before somebody said, "Oh shit, can we put the windows down or something? Maybe we should have at least put some deodorant on or something!"

"That's not B.O," I said, grinning.

"Oh my god!" Joe yelled, half gagging, half laughing.

"Jesus, Chris!" Chuck said putting his window down and sticking his head out the window.

"Chris just because you can't smell doesn't mean the rest of us can't!" Richy yelled, his shirt over his nose. It's true, I can't smell, I don't know why and I don't know for how long. I've been like this for as long as I can remember, it has been helpful in certain situations, like this one.

"Sorry," I said, laughing so hard I was crying. "It just slipped out!"

"Bullshit!" Joe screamed. "Something that big doesn't just slip out!" Just then we all heard a huge gasp and we all turned to see Ashley jump up from the back seat.

"Ashley?" We all screamed, my face grew red.

"Oh my, gosh!" Ashley screamed jumping forward and sticking her head out the window.

"Sorry," I said, looking at the road.

Ashley sat back in the car and was breathing heavily and she said, "I tried holding my breath, but when I couldn't handle it anymore I gasped and inhaled a crap ton of the air."

"Literally, a crap ton!" Joe said and started to laugh.

We continued to drive a little with the windows down, no signs of Scampers or Mechs – which is what we've decided to call the robots – finally I looked into the rearview mirror at Ashley and asked, "So what are you doing here, Ashley?"

"I couldn't just sit at home while you guys went out to save your brother," Ashley said matter-of-factly.

"How'd you know we would take this car?" Joe asked.

"I didn't," Ashley said, "I assumed you guys would take this one because it's bigger. When I heard the other car start up I started to panic. Then the car turned off and I heard Chris yell that I was a standard. When I heard you guys get into this car I relaxed and waited for the right time to pop out."

"Genius," I said looking back at the road. Just then I heard a sound, something like an airplane, but it sounded very close. I stopped the car off to the side of the road and looked up at the sky. An airplane flew overhead, literally only half a mile up in the air and it flew over us, the backend was inflamed and the plane was flying at an angle, the nose of it pointing toward the ground. It flew a little ways before crashing into the ground and exploding, shaking the entire car to the point in which the windows shattered and we had to clutch the Oh-Shit handles.

"Whoa," Joe said when it was over, wide eyed and sweating.

"They're in the skies now, too." Chuck said.

"Well, that's just icing on the cake, isn't it?" I said, putting the car back into drive and started back on the road.

There was a huge dust cloud where the plane had landed; all I could think about were the mass numbers of people who were in that explosion, how many families were killed. I knew was that this new life of war was going to change me, was going to change a lot of people. I just hoped we wouldn't lose our humanity in the process. I felt us hit a bump and there was a loud bang, I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a spike strip laid out on the ground.

"Dammit," I said, knowing what was about to happen. I stopped the car and looked around cautiously, then I saw a man step out from the brush; he had long hair and a bushy beard. He had a maniacal look in his eyes, and then he was lost in a cloud of smoke.

"What the hell is this?" Joe screamed.

"Sleeping gas!" Richy yawned.

"Don't inhale through your noses!" Chuck said as he started to slip into unconsciousness.

The gas was having less of an effect on me; because that nerve in my brain was dead the gas was having a hard time putting me to sleep. When I saw my friends drop into unconsciousness I followed suit, miming sleep but still fully aware of my surroundings.

"Alright," a man shouted, I assumed it was the bearded man because he looked like a man who wouldn't be caught dead following orders, "throw them in the truck!"

"With all the weapons, boss?" Another man asked.

"Yes, with all the weapons! That gas lasts for hours; they won't be waking up for a long time. But if you really feel so concerned put Maggie in with them."

We were thrown into the back of a truck, our hands bound and our mouths gagged. I rolled over and felt a knife under my hands, picked them up and started to cut through the rope when I heard footsteps over me, I stopped and lay silently.

"They're just kids," said a female voice, probably Maggie.

"Yeah, so if they wake up they shouldn't be a big problem for you, will they hot stuff?" I head the smack of hand on ass and then I head a thump and gasp. "What the hell!" the man asked hoarsely.

"Sorry," Maggie said in mock innocence. "It was a reflex. Touch my ass again and I'll make sure to aim lower." So she socked him in the stomach, poor bastard was luck from what I heard.

"Right," the man said and I felt the trunk jump a little as he jumped down from the bed. "Just keep an eye on them, will you?" I heard the door to the bed shut and Maggie sat on a crate or something. Then the engine roared to life and I risked a peak, it was dark enough in the back of the truck, it must have been an army type truck with the tarp over the bed. I could see the silhouette of Maggie near the back of the truck; she wouldn't be able to see me moving to cut the ropes on my wrists, so I started at it again.

Five minutes later my hands were free and I moved the gag from my mouth. These were a messy bunch, there were guns all over the floor; I could take out this Maggie girl and then take out the driver and any other passenger up there. We would have enough weapons to take out any Scampers along the way; this was all too perfect! I reached over to grab a gun, and just as I wrapped my hand around the handle I felt the cold barrel of a pistol touch the back of my head.

"Let go of the gun," Maggie's voice said venomously. I released the gun, and just then we hit a bump and I felt her fall over, I took this to my advantage and I grabbed the gun I had been holding and whipped around and aimed at her. I hesitated though, she had gotten to her knees and I could see her face for the first time.

"Dammit," she and I said at the same time. She raised her eyebrows at me. "Why did you say dammit?"

"Because," I said, dread rising into me, "you're gorgeous. And every chivalrous bone in my body is telling me to lower the gun."

"Well," Maggie said, standing with the pistol rising to my head, "I guess chivalry _isn't_ dead. Pity it had to come at such a bad time."

"No," I said keeping my gun raised, "no I'm not giving up. Put your god damned gun down and get out of this fucking truck." Her eyebrows rose higher. "I am _not_ letting anyone get in the way of me trying to save my brother!"

"You're brother?" Maggie asked, and then realization came to her face. "He was taken by the Cooties, wasn't he?"

"Cooties?" I asked, momentarily confused, then, "Oh you mean the Scampers, yeah. They took him, and I'm looking to get him back."

"Well, good luck with that," Maggie started to walk forward and I took that leap. I pulled the trigger, but no gunshot came, just a click. Maggie stopped and I looked at where the magazine _should_ have been and cursed. Maggie approached and put a hand on my gun and lowered it. "Listen, I like you, so I'm going to help you because your brother's been taken. And to be honest I can't stand Pope and his jolly group of misfits, so I'll help you take all these weapons."

"Why don't you come with us?" I asked her, but she shook her head and said, "It's not my time to leave Pope yet, as much of a shithead as he is I need to stay with him for a little while."

"Well," I said, nodding slowly, "maybe we'll bump into each other out there."

"Yeah," Maggie said. "Now punch me."

"What?" I asked, taken aback.

"Punch me," she urged. "We need to make it look like you snuck up on me!"

"Um," I said uncertainly. "Okay." I brought my hand back and clenched it into a fist. "Sorry," I said, for what it was worth, and then I brought my fist down and hit her hard. With an _oof!_ She fell to the floor and held her cheek. Then I turned and knock on the window to the front cab. The window opened and a head poked in, with no hesitation I punched him and stuck my arm into the window and wrapped it around the driver's neck. He started to swerve and honk so I grabbed the back of his head and slammed it onto the steering wheel, knocking him out. I jumped into cab and kicked him out and kicked the other guy out.

"Well," I said, breathing fast. "That was easy." I slammed on the brakes and cut the wheel enough to turn the truck sideways. I poked my head into the back and said, "Alright, blondie this is where you get out."

"Alright," she said, standing. "Nice right-hook, by the way."

"Thanks," I said smiling. "And thanks for letting us go."

"No problem," she said. "Alright, I'm going." She ran toward the back flap and jumped out like I had thrown her.

"Damn," I said, admiring how badass she was. I got back to the wheel to see the caravan had stopped a little ways ahead. I started to backup so I could move forward, and then I put it in drive and I was off. I had no idea where we were or if there were any aliens nearby but I knew one thing, I wasn't going to stop for anything. Absolutely nothing.


	3. The Second Mass

I opened up a crate in the back of the truck, searching for a weapon that I'd see fit for myself; I had found ammunition crates on the other side of the truck. I heard rustling behind me and whipped around, aiming the handgun I had loaded. Ashley screamed and I lowered the gun, closing my eyes.

"Jesus, Ashley," I said, shaking my head. "I could have ruined that pretty face of your's."

"Sorry," she said rolling her eyes, "if I had known you were going to shoot me I would've been quieter." She looked out the back flap of the truck. "Have we stopped moving?"

"Yeah," I said, turning away. "Apparently, when these trucks say empty, they mean _empty_."

"Oh," Ashley said as the others started to stir.

"What time is it?" Joe asked, rubbing his head.

I looked at my watch and said, "Noon."

"Dammit, we've been out for 5 hours?"

"Five hours, and three days actually," I said, still searching the crate.

"What?"

"Imagine where we'd be if your dear friend could actually smell," I said, holding up an M16. "This'll do." I pulled the strap up and around my torso so that the gun hung on my back, I turned to my friends and pointed at Richy. "I have something for you."

Richy followed me out of the truck, where I had laid a minigun. When he saw it, I thought Richy was going to scream like a little kid on Christmas. He walked over and picked up with a grunt, he moved it around, getting a feel for it, and then he looked at me and said, "Oh Chris, you shouldn't have!"

"Consider it an early birthday gift," I said, grinning. I looked at everyone else. "Grab whatever you can from the crates; we need to move before more Scampers come along."

"More?" Chuck said cautiously.

I looked to the right of the truck, where a pile of Scampers lay dead. "It's amazing you guys were able to sleep through all that gun fire."

Everyone grabbed what they needed and then we were off; heading west, where I knew a road was because that was where I pulled off before running out of gas.

"Alright," I said as we stepping out onto the road, "Boston is this way. We'll head there and see what we can find. Survivors, food, ammo, anything that can help us get to where we need to be."

"And where is that exactly?" Joe asked skeptically.

"Wherever the fight is," I said. "I want to kill as many of these bastards as possible before finding my brother. Who knows, maybe he'll be in Boston."

We walked past a sign that said, "Boston. 1½ miles" when a couple of the alien's airships – we'd come to call them Speedsters – zoomed over us. We jumped into the brush to avoid detection, but I had a feeling it was too late… I was right.

From the brush, I could see the Speedsters pulling a U-ey. One banked left, the other right, I could hear the sonic boom of them breaking the sound barrier and they came back at us, dropping laser charges. Explosions pushed us back farther into the brush, we ran hard and fast but the Speedsters were right on our tails. Finally we got to where we needed to be, Richy and Chuck were waiting in a bush with rocket launchers, they fired on my mark – waving my arms like a mad man – and Richy's hit the Speedster's dead on. Chuck's hit the second one on the tail and sent it into a wild spin, heading straight for us.

"Run!" I screamed, though I think it was redundant. "Go! Go! Go!" I looked up at the Speedster and knew we probably wouldn't make it. "Turn!" I screamed, but the sound of the falling Speedster was too loud, Ashley and Joe couldn't hear me. I grabbed Ashley by the wasteband and the back of her shirt and I threw her to the side. I shoved me shoulder in to Joe, sending him flying and I made a mad dash to the side. I felt something like an animal bite on my calf and fell face first into what I hoped was mud.

There was an explosion and the sound of dirt being displaced, I sat up and turned over to see Joe helping Ashley up, and Richy and Chuck running toward me. I looked down at my leg, there was a large red gash running up my calf and blood was pulsing out.

"Shit," I said, feeling light headed. The last thing I remember seeing was the world spinning, and then there was blackness.

"Chris?" came a voice in the void. It was a sort of echo.

Stupidly, I said, "Am I dead?"

I heard a snicker, and then, "No dumbass, you're just not going to do any cross country running for a while."

I sat up to see Ashley fixing a bandage on my leg, it wasn't really a bandage at all, I realized I was shirtless.

"You couldn't find some other shirt to wrap it up with?" I asked hoarsely.

"If we waited you would have bled out," Joe said from behind me.

"Alright," I said, "first thing on the grocery list, a new shirt for Chris."

"Sounds good to me," Chuck said, walking past me. "When are we leaving?"

"Chris can't walk like this," Ashley said.

"She's right," Joe said. "We need to find some help."

"Yeah?" Richy said. "Where? You think help is just going to run out from the brush or something?"

Just then a Scamper ran out from the brush and fell dead on the ground, forgetting about my wounded leg I jumped up with my gun in hand, when I landed on my leg I yelped and fell to a kneel. A group of men came running out of the woods, weapons hot and ready to shoot.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I screamed, dropping my gun and holding my hands up, the others did the same. "Easy there, Master Chief!"

"Lower your weapons," shouted an older man with a gruff beard and long gray hair. He wore a baseball cap and he looked like a natural leader. Next to him was a younger man, looked to be in his mid-40s, he had a longer beard, though not too long. He had brown hair and he too looked like a natural born leader, though he didn't have that look in his eyes indicating he didn't have much to live for.

"They're kids," the younger man said.

"That they are," the older man said, bringing his weapon up to lean on his shoulder. "Kids," he said, "I'm Captain Dan Weaver, this here is Tom Mason," he indicated the younger man. "We're not here to hurt you, just the Skidder."

"Captain," I said, nodding.

"Cap, this one is injured," Tom Mason said.

"Yeah," Weaver said, "yeah I see that."

Tom walked over to me and knelt down over my leg. He lifted the shirt and looked at the gash; his face turned a sickly shade of green. "You, uh, you okay, son?" Tom asked, obviously trying to keep his lunch down.

"Oh, peachy," I said, feeling lightheaded again. I looked at this Weaver character; his eyes were glued to the fallen Speedster.

"You kids took down a Beamer all by yourselves?" He asked.

"Two, actually," I said gesturing to the small pieces of the Speedster.

"Son of a bitch," Tom said, looking at Weaver. "We're barely able to take down one on our own.

"We had some help," Chuck said, lifting a rocket launcher up.

"Where in the world did you kids get this hardware?" Weaver asked dumbstruck.

"From us," came a feminine voice from behind them. Out stepped a blonde girl who looked strangely familiar.

"Maggie?" I said, it was my turn to be dumbstruck.

"Hey Voldemort," Maggie said, walking forward a little more. "How's the no nose thing working for ya?"

"Hah, yeah, you're funny," I said, but I was smiling.

"Why don't you kids come back to our camp with us," Weaver asked. "We can get you fed and bathed, get your leg healed up."

"I need to find my brother," I said automatically. "He was taken by the Scampers."

"Scampers?" Tom asked, then after a moment's thought a look of realization struck his face. "The Skidders? The aliens I mean?"

"Yeah," I said, growing grim.

"My son was taken, we're trying to find him, as well."

"Oh," I said, "well, maybe we'll find them together."

"Sounds good to me," said Tom. "Come on," he called to the others, "let's get him up and out of here, huh?"

And with that, I was carried off by the 2nd Mass, off to their camp. Maggie said it was in a school in Acton, Mass. I hoped maybe, just maybe, this was the break I was looking for to find my brother, and with Tom looking for his son, maybe we might stumble upon the two of them.


	4. JFK Highschool

We arrived at John F. Kennedy High School in Acton, Mass around noon the next day. Because it was a school they were able to find me a wheelchair in the nurse's office to use until my leg was healed enough to walk on. It was a pretty nice set up they had going on, it was pretty much a disgruntled military base filled with untrained civilian soldiers. In other words, it was a militia.

There were plenty of people, hundreds even, enough to form a small village. Me and my friends were gradually accepted into their community and they all seemed to be happy here, but I wasn't. every minute we spent playing army men was another minute where my brother could be Scamper chow or something. When I expressed this thought to Tom – who was the only person in the Second Mass I felt close to – he told me what Scampers _really_ did to the kids they took.

"Apparently, what they do," Tom said one night as we sat on our separate bunks – they had put me and my friends in the same room as the Masons – "is take the kids into this special area and connect this thing we called a Harness onto their backs. It allows the Skidders to connect with the children on a telekinetic level, commanding them what to do. Image if the south had those in the Civil War," Tom was a History teacher, so he naturally made history references a lot.

"So you're telling me that my brother is probably a slave to the Scam—Skidders?" I asked revolted.

"Yeah," Tom said solemnly. "Listen, we haven't given up hope, though. Our local medic, Anne, is trying to think of a way to remove the harness without killing the host."

"How successful has she been?" I asked hopefully.

Tom was quiet for a moment, before saying, "She hasn't successfully saved anyone… _yet_," he added sternly when he saw the glum look on my face.

"Listen," I said, "let's not talk about getting the Harness things off until we know our boys are actually Harnessed, alright?"

"Agreed," Tom said, nodding slowly.

"I'm going to head to the mess hall," I said, pulling myself into the wheelchair. I wheeled down the hall and saw Joe walking toward me.

"Hey," he said.

"What's going on?" I asked him, people were gathering around a billboard on the wall.

"People are putting up pictures of their kids, for the scouts. You know, like wanted posters kind of."

"Hmm," I said, nodding slowly. It was a good idea, but a false hope at that.

"So I'm going out with some of the sentry men," Joe said, "we're going to do a scouting run."

"Go for it," I said, wheeling into the mess hall. I got my food and looked around the Café. On the other side of the café sat Hal Mason, Tom's eldest son, and Maggie. I wheeled over and stopped making a car screech sound with my mouth… don't judge.

"Hey, Chris," Hal said, looking over from Maggie.

"Hey Hal," I said, nodding at him, then Maggie. "Hey Maggie."

"Hey," Maggie said, smiling slightly. Her smile faded, though, when her eyes snapped up over my shoulder.

"Well, well, well," came an oh so familiar voice. "If it isn't the little spit fuck that tricked us out of our guns." I turned to see Pope, the man who had kidnapped me and my friends.

"Oh," I said awkwardly. "Hi," I said like the Joker in the Dark Knight. "How ya been?"

"How've I been?" Pope asked, a flicker of hatred in his eyes. "How have I _been_? You take all my guns, one of my trucks, knockout my girl here, kill my two boys and you ask me how I have _been_?"

"Well," I said, thinking long and hard before saying, "Yeah."

The flicker of hatred was a full flame now and Pope grabbed me by the collar and hoisted me up to my feet.

"Listen to me you little cripple," Pope hissed, "you may be protected by the professor and the Captain, but don't think I can't make it look like an accident."

"Ooooh," I said like a ghost, "I'm _so_ scared."

Pope brought up his fist to deck me, but before he could move it down an inch there was the sound of a shotgun being loaded.

"Pope, put him down," Hal had gotten up and was aiming his gun at Pope's head.

Pope released me and I fell back into my chair, he backed away with his hands halfway up. "Alright," he said, completely calm, but the wildfire of hatred was still raging in his eyes. "You're safe now, runt," Pope said to me. "But you won't always have pretty boy here to keep you safe." He turned and stormed away; Hal lowered his gun and looked at me.

"You alright, man?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said, nodding, I was shaking slightly. To be honest, I was scared shitless.

"Eat your food," Hal said, walking away. "I'm going on scouting patrol."

I looked at Maggie and she watched me for a moment. Then I said, "So, uh, Pope's all talk right? One of those, bark is worse than his bite kinda fellow?"

"I wish I could say yes," Maggie said. "Unfortunately his bite is worse than bark, and he barks like Clifford."

"Great," I said. "I've pissed off a big red dog."

"He's more like a hellhound," Maggie said, standing up. "I'm going to go on Scout patrol with Hal and them. Good luck." And with that, Maggie strode off after Hal, leaving me alone in the mess hall… with Pope in the next room. At that thought I shuddered and wheeled away so fast I thought I was going to get pulled over for speeding. I figured the safest place to be was with Weaver or Tom for the time being, until Pope could set his sights on some other poor sucker.


End file.
